Monday, January 9, 2017

2016 came and went and here we are in 2017. We went to church on New Year's Day and spent the next couple days unpacking and rearranging the house for all the news toys, books and clothes we received over the two weeks of Christmas celebrations. I worked hard on Jan. 2nd to get all the Christmas decorations down and packed up. I was successful - all except the trees. I didn't have enough time for that.

Monday, January 2nd was Drew's birthday!!! I worked hard to get the house in shape that day because his family was coming for dinner to celebrate the birthday boy. I sent out a text the night before and was surprised when the whole family could make it for dinner Monday night. Drew's favorite meal is BBQ and banana pudding so we had that for dinner. We bought BBQ and the sides but Lindy and I made him a banana pudding. The girl loves to help in the kitchen.

We had a nice little celebration for him. No one stayed too late because it was back to work and school for most of us. We finished out a regular week at school and work and then the fun happened.

They forecasted a snowstorm - with a possible 6-8" - and it happened. That hardly ever happens! They normally forecast snow and nothing happens. It started snowing around 4pm Friday afternoon. It snowed for a little while and then stopped. It picked up again around 10pm and it snowed all night and all day until early afternoon. We couldn't believe it snowed that long! It was bitterly cold though. We went out a couple times on Saturday but stayed inside on Sunday. The snow is so powdery and dry that it's not been good for packing, building snowmen, or sledding.

School and work were cancelled on Monday. I stayed home with the kids and they did go out for awhile to play again. They played with the neighbor girl and her friend. It has been so cold, with lows in the single digits. You have had to bundle up well or you can't stay out long. Monday night the kids went with the neighbors to see the movie Sing again. They loved it the first time and took the opportunity to see it again.

We went out when it was just starting to snow but Aiden is the only one that seemed excited and stayed out with me. ﻿

December 26th my mom and I headed to Charlotte to the airport to get my sister and her family. We got them back safely to Mooresville where we had our final celebration. We opened presents and had a nice dinner and then Drew had to head home. He unfortunately has very little time off and didn't have more time to take.

The kids and I stayed at my parents' house so we could play with cousins. We had a pretty lazy time at my parents', which was quite nice. The stomach bug actually moved through four people while there. Rylee and my mom got it in the middle of the night Wednesday night. Rylee bounced back fairly quickly while it took my mom a little longer. While they were home sick Thursday, the rest of us did get out and go bowling. I bowled the worst game of my life but we all had fun. Drew came back Thursday night as well.

Friday was our big adventure for the week. Eight of us headed to Asheville. Our family of four, my mom, and my sister and her girls all crammed in our van and headed out. Thankfully everyone felt better and no one else had gotten sick. We started our day by heading to the Sierra Nevada Brewery outside Asheville. We weren't able to do the guided tour because the kids weren't old enough but we were able to walk along the upper part and see down into some of the rooms where they are making beer. I don't drink beer but it was still really interesting to see the process. The bottling process was downright fascinating. All of the kids found that part just as fascinating as we did. They could have been bottling anything but it was such a crazy, sophisticated process that was really neat to watch. The entire brewery is really pretty on the inside and out so it made for a nice first stop.

We left there and headed to the Biltmore house. Our tickets into the house were not until 6pm so we headed to the Antler Hill Village first. Our tickets came with a free winery tasting which we did do. The kids were served grape juice which they enjoyed. We walked through a little more of the village before heading over to the Biltmore House. It was super crowded and so we had to park and ride the shuttles. We got there and headed straight to the Stable Café and immediately got seated. My plans to get there right before 4pm worked out perfectly so we could get the lunch menu prices. We got seated around 3:50pm! Perfection! The Stable Café was so pretty inside. We ate inside a stall which was neat. Someone said something about my birthday coming up and the waitress asked when it was. Our 40th birthdays are 8 days apart so we commiserated over that. At the end she brought me a free dessert! Totally surprised me! We finished dinner and we went to the spot on the hill to take some pictures, looked around in a couple spots, used the restrooms and it was time to go inside.

It was my first time ever in the Biltmore and man that is a big house! It was beautifully decorated with Christmas in every nook and cranny! We followed the flow of the crowd and roamed the house. Lindy was really not interested and whined a good bit. It was really crowded, too. I'm so glad I saw it decorated at Christmas but I've decided I'd like to go back without kids, during a less busy time, and do the audio tour to really learn more about the house. We finished our tour and packed the van and headed down the mountain.

Friday night the stomach bug struck again - this time Will and my sister. Both Rylee and Will woke up in the middle of the night and instead of going to the bathroom upstairs, both came downstairs to tell us they were sick. Rylee made it inside my sister's room and woke her up to tell her she didn't feel good, before puking all over the bed, floor, and wall. Will made it about half way down the stairs before puking all over the steps. Crazy kids. Thankfully my mom and sister were able to help themselves to the bathrooms! ha! It was a weird virus because they all threw up just one time. Will slept the rest of the night in my bed and never got sick again. He woke up the next morning asking why he was in my bed. He was absolutely fine though. He ate breakfast like normal. My sister was not fine - and she had to get on a plane at 1:50pm. She was popping imodiums and pepto and somehow made it home. I'm sure she did a nice job of spreading it on the plane to others. ha!

We cancelled our NYE plans because we didn't want our friends to get sick. We stayed home and it gave me extra time to start unpacking and putting Xmas presents away.

The Beavers finally arrived in NC!

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Lindy got a fish tank. hmmmm.

Will got some neat robot coding toys

The annual Drew and Rylee couch picture!

Mom got a cool robot vacuum from Dad. She was happy!

Hayley is the best big cousin!

Some of the non-sickies that went bowling!

Papa watched - he can't bowl with a bum knee.

Packed in and headed to Asheville!﻿

First stop - Sierra Nevada - a ridiculously nice brewery!

Drew snuck in the picture. ha! It was actually Amy and Lee's anniversary but it looks like it was Amy and Drew's anniversary! ha!

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Second stop - Biltmore House!

Grape juice tasting

Wine tasting

Early birthday celebrations

Pictures in front of the house!

My family was gone so I had to adopt a Rylee for pics!

Drew in the library﻿

Trouble makers!

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On the way home Saturday. Aiden was sad to leave Sadie.﻿

Our wild and crazy NYE. We didn't make it to midnight. Well actually I fell asleep and then woke up to watch the ball drop.